4 ms·

We aren't made of polymers. Chemicals that don't separate from the plastic doesn't mean the chemicals used to make and color plastic are safe to stick directly

• blattimwind 8y ago
  Re. plastics specifically, the synthesis of these almost universally uses compounds of at least some toxicity. It's not easy to set up, control and maintain a reactor such that you get a very clean product containing very little of the original compounds. For durability, that doesn't really matter. But when you don't want plastics to contaminate things, then you really need high quality plastics. That's why e.g. kids toys and most of the plastic things you touch or put your food in/on are made from the cheapest plastics someone was able to make (because we're cheap fucks), while industrial piping, fittings etc. (which are quite common in many industries, because many substances are incompatible with steel piping, and stainless steel piping is even more expensive, and still incompatible with many substances) are still largely made in first-world countries and cost approx 2-10 times more per kg than cheap plastics. The former has all sorts of chemical dirt in it, while the latter only requires a few purging passes at most to not contaminate your product.